Tie-plate.



No. 684,466. Patented Oct. l5, l90l. J. M. SELLERS.

TIE PLATE.

(Application filed Feb. 4. 1901.

(No Model.)

I LATENT FlFlCEt JOHN M. SELLERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TIE-PLATE.

SPECIFICATIUN forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,466, dated October15, 1901.

Application filed February 4,1901. Serial No. 46,023. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. SELLERS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of (Jock and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Tie'Plates, of which thefol' lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in tie-plates which are intended tobe secured to the upper surface of railway ties or sleepers, so as tofurnish a bearing plate or surface upon which the rails are laid and towhich the rails are spiked instead of being spiked or secured directlyto the sleepers.

The objects of my invention are to furnish such a tie-plate which shallbe simple to pro duce, shall be most effectively secured to the tie, andin an extremely simple manner.

A further object of my invention is to produce such a tie-plate, whichcan be readily rolled out of old T-rails.

These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained bythe devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1shows a section of a T-rail separated longitudinally through the web forthe purpose of rolling the same into my improved tie-plate. Fig. 2 showsthe sections of the same rail as they appear after having been rolledinto my tie-plate. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a section of arail laid upon one of my tie-plates and showing the tie-plate and tie insection, with the tie-plate driven into the tie.

A great advantage of my improved tie-plate is that it is of such formthat it may be readily rolled from old and damaged T-rails without anywaste and in such a manner that the form in which the T-rail has beenrolled in the manufacture of the rail amounts substantially to a firststep in the manufacture of my tie-plate.

As shown in Fig. 1, I separate a T-rail longitudinally about midway ofthe height of its web into the pieces A and B. This gives me two blanks,each of which comprises a wide portion a b and a narrow portion a, bprojecting therefrom. By means of suitable rolls and repeated passesthese blanks are rolled into the tie-plates shown in Fig. 2, the headand a portion of the Web of the rail being rolled into a tie-plate andthe flange and the other portion of the web being rolled into a liketie-plate. These tie-plates, which are substantially T-shaped incross-section, consist of a flange O and a depending stem D. Thisdepending stem is preferably a continuous stem depending from the centerof the flange along its entire length. The distinctive feature of thisstem lies in its spearshaped cross-section, it having a sharp-pointed orcutting edge at its farther extremity, from which edge it tapers to theshoulders d, between which and the point of its junction with the flangeit is rounded or hollowed into the recesses (Z. 'While the flange of thetieplate may be rolled perfectly flat, both upon its upper and undersurfaces, I prefer to roll it, as shown in the drawings, with aprojecting longitudinal rib or shoulder 0 extending parallel with thestem D on each side thereof. This shoulder may be of any suitablecontour; but I consider that the best results are obtained when it isformed so as to round away from the stem D, as shown in the drawings.These shoulders or ribs may be most readily formed by rollingsand-troughs 0 along the upper surface of the flange C, so as tocorrespondingly bulge the under side of the flange G into the desiredshoulders; but this is not essential to my invention, and, if desired,the flange C may be formed perfectly plane on its upper side and withthe longitudinal shoulder c on its under side.

By forming my tie-plate from sections of T-rails divided as described Iam enabled to readily produce a tie-plate with a very long stem D, whichis adapted to be driven into the tie, so as to firmly secure thetie-plate to the wooden tie. While this of itself is a great advantageover all such plates known to me in the prior art, distinctive featuresof my device are the grooves d and the shoulders c, which cooperate tohold the tie-plate in place against the bounding of the rail under thepassage of trains in the following manner:

It will be observed that the tie-plate is laid longitudinally with thetie and the rail is laid transversely of the tie-plate. The dependingstem D, extending longitudinally of the tie-plate, will therefore enterthe wood of the tie lengthwise of its grain, and by reason of its wedgeshape the tendency of the stem D when driven into the tie will be toseparate the fibers of the wood and to crowd them together rather thanto cut them. It is evident, therefore, that as soon as the shoulders dat the Widest part of the stem D are driven below the fibers of the woodat any given point the natural elasticity of these fibers will causethem to enter into the recesses of the grooves cl and to resist anytendency of the plate to draw out of the wood, thereby causing theshoulders at to force the fibers of the wood out of the grooves orrecesses 61. This tendency of the wood to crowd into these grooves d andto grip against the under sides of the shoulders (1, so as to hold thetie-plate securely, is aided by the ribs 0 as soon as the under side ofthe flange of the tie-plate is driven down upon the upper surface of thetie. \Vh'en this occurs, the ribs 0 are forced into the wood of the tieand tend to crowd and compress the fibers of the wood into the groovesd. Of course the more the wood is compressed into these grooves thegreater the resistance it will offer to the withdrawal of the stem D.

I am aware that it is old in this art to provide tie-plates havingsharp-edged ribs for driving into the wood of a tie, and also havingvarious forms of integral spiked points for this purpose, and I do notbroadly claim such an article as my invention; but, so far as I amaware, it is broadly new with'ine to produce a tie-plate withlongitudinal grooves d upon the attaching-stem D for the purposesspecified, and I also believe it to be broadly new with me to providesuch a plate with the ribs con the under side thereof for the pur poseof crowding and compressing the wood, so as to more firmly secure theattaching ribs, stem, or points in the wood.

Of course the exact contour of the grooves d of the shoulders 01 and ofthe ribs 0 may, any or all of them, be Varied without departing from thespirit of my invention, and such variations of contour and proportionsare contemplated by my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-- 1. Atie-plate comprisingahorizontalfiange and acentrally-disposed stem extending longitudinally and from the under facethereof, said stem having a generally spear-shaped cross-section,substantially-as described.

2. A tie-plate comprising a bed-plate, a stem extending longitudinallyand from the under face thereof, said stem having a cutting edge,longitudinal shoulders on each side thereof and longitudinal groovesbetween said shoulders and the under surface of said bed-plate,substantially as described.

3. In a tie-plate, the combination with a bed-plate, of anattaching-stem on the under side thereof, said attaching-stem having awedge shaped point, longitudinal grooves upon the opposite faces of saidstem between the widest part thereof and the under side of saidbed-plate, and longitudinal ribs on the under side of said bed-plateadapted to cooperate with said longitudinal grooves, substantially asdescribed.

4. Atie-plate comprisingabed-plate, astem extending longitudinally alongthe under face thereof, said stem having a wedge-shaped point andlongitudinal grooves extending along opposite faces of said stem betweenthe widest part of said wedge and the base of said stem, substantiallyas described.

5. A tie-plate comprisingabed-plate, astem extending longitudinallyalong the under face thereof, said stem having a wedge-shaped point andlongitudinal grooves extending along opposite sides of said stem betweenthe widest part of said point and the base of said stem, and saidbed-plate being provided on its under side with longitudinal ribs uponopposite sides of said stem, substantially as described.

JOHN M. SELLERS.

Witnesses:

M. E. SHIELDS, E. Y. GRIDLEY.

